In all his 37 years of selling homes and land, Gary Johns guesses he’s sold only 20 vacant lots. This year alone, he’s sold at least five in Palm Springs, said Johns, vice president of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation and a Paul Kaplan Group agent. “Lots that sat on the market forever, why are they sold?” Johns asked. “People are going to build new houses. These aren’t vacant lots that developers have picked up. These are single lots that will have custom homes on them.”
Vacant lots stagnant during the recession have been snatched up from as far north as Chino Cone down south toward Bogert Trail. Many of these parcels filled with scrub and boulders will one day transform into brand-new custom, contemporary houses. The scramble for individual vacant lots in corners of neighborhoods as well as larger swaths of land parcels illustrates the high demand for cheap, available property left in Palm Springs. “There’s an absolute shortage of fee simple land available for sale,” said Stone James, a broker based in the Palm Desert branch of Land Advisors Organization.
The land rush in Palm Springs extends beyond individual lots to bigger parcels. About two years ago, a parcel planned for 100 condo units sold for $350,000 — 10 percent of its market value before the recession, James said. Now, some land parcels are selling for at least $600,000 an acre. “The increase in the demand for houses and the decreasing supply of foreclosed homes led to an increase in the price,” James said. “Builders could now start building and making a profit. That demand has continued to go up.
Now we’re at near peak pricing for some new homes in Palm Springs.” RELATED:Former Spa president Spivack recalls hotel’s glory days Building permits for new construction are expected to increase in number and valuation. In 2013, there were about 150 Palm Springs single-family home permits, according to Land Advisors Organization. Growth projections for 2014 estimate more than 200 permits with a valuation of roughly $60 million.
James Schmidt, a Los Angeles-based architect, was one of the lucky ones. Schmidt swept in on a corner lot for less than $100,000 in Chino Canyon. He’s constructed plenty of nice buildings for clients, including a recent addition to a restored Hugh Kaptur house in Palm Springs, but this will be the first ground-up home for himself. He plans to build a second home that will function more like an office and quiet getaway than for permanent living, he said. “It’s in the rocks, definitely a desert feeling,” Schmidt said. “It’s kind of bohemian. I’m embracing that, too, one house away from opening up to the raw desert.” Because it will be one of his most personal works, and with no client to rein him in, Schmidt is already on his seventh scheme. Schmidt plans to build a compact layout that consumes net-zero energy. The home will have its challenges. The lot sits on an incline. Winds blow fiercer in the north. “Every time I get to the end, I see something else and go off in a different direction,” Schmidt said, laughing. “I’m giving myself time to explore. I want to do something architecturally inspiring.”
During a tour of Palm Springs, Johns pointed out empty lots that recently sold ranging from $85,000 to $400,000. Many are slated for a new modern house. Near Schmidt’s future home in Chino Canyon, an Indiana couple also bought a vacant corner property off Cabrillo Road. “All this land sat around forever and then boom, boom, boom, they’re just all sold,” Johns said. One 1.5-acre empty lot in Chino Canyon has plans for a grand 10,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home. “It’s the quintessential Palm Springs home,” said Damon Medlen, an interior designer and former Hollywood set decorator. Quintessential meaning a classic, modern style reminiscent, but not a copy, of old Hollywood glamour in Palm Springs. “Nothing dated, nothing trendy,” said Medlen, who expects full buildout over the next two years. “In 20 years, it will still be timeless.” Medlen’s renderings of the giant project featured sharp, clean lines, floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, an atrium with a water pool, walls of tile and indoor-outdoor living with indigenous plant landscaping.
The more extravagant plans: glass garage doors to show off fancy cars, a retractable roof in the master bedroom, an entryway with water in the grooves among a grid of stone tiles, as if it’s floating. Where there are no open lots for sale, some homeowners are razing existing houses or adding new sections with the help of renowned architects. Los Angeles buyers purchased a former Buff & Hensman home for $4 million and hired Los Angeles firm Marmol Radziner to do a $2 million renovation.
In 2012, Liz Ostoich bought a historic 1959 house on the west hillside of Palm Springs. The one-bedroom house was prime for an expansion. “It’s special and it’s got such great views,” Ostoich said. “It’s architecturally significant, and lots of kids come to visit. We don’t ever have a place for them to stay here, so we thought about doing a guest house.” At the back, a tennis court long in disrepair posed the ideal makeover for a new casita. Ostoich enlisted the help of the original architect, Hugh Kaptur. “It’s just a chance to, because of the size of it being small, of doing something more sculptural, more creative than just doing something rectangular and box-like,” Kaptur said. “It was a chance for me to do something more creative.” Kaptur drew up sketches for a round two-bed, two-bath concrete guest house, a 180-degree switch from the rectangular, modernist main home. A butterfly roof will tilt upward, “so it almost looks like the roof is taking off in flight,” Ostoich said. “I love the clean lines, I love the fact that it brings the outdoors in,” Ostoich said. “So much of the beauty of this valley is God’s creation. By using the glass and the simplicity, the outdoors become your art.”
The appeal of Palm Springs as a modernist city is nothing new. But now with new evidence of vacant lot sales and drawings for custom homes, Johns believes the city is in a “renaissance.” “Today’s architects are adapting to the land, changing less,” Johns said. “Not destroy the lot, but fit the house to the lot.”
Single-Family home building permits for Palm Springs appear to be on the rise.
The 2014 figure is a projection for the entire year.
2013: 150 building permits
2014: 210 building permits
Dominique Fong is a business and real estate reporter for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 778-4661, [email protected] and on Twitter @dominiquefong.
Source: Land Advisors Organization